Bad WolfThe Parting of the Ways Novelisation
by Josman
Summary: The TARDIS crew wake up to find themselves trapped in a world of psychotic game shows. When find out who is behind everything, the Doctor is forced to make a terrible choice in order to save the universe.
1. Games

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. Nor Big Brother, The Weakest Link or any of the various other game shows referenced. (I'm sad about not owning some of those. Try to guess which.)**

**Bad Wolf**

_Just risking money isn't enough. If you're a gambler, this is the greatest gamble you can make. That's the real kick._ - Blakes 7.

**Chapter 1: Games**

The Doctor awoke in a tiny space, about a metre square, with mirrors on each side. Torn with panic, he hammered furiously on each wall, screaming "Let me out!" To his surprise, the third wall he hammered on swung away from him and he tumbled out of the dressing room to fall flat on his face.

A woman came running up to him. "Hello!" She beamed, pleased to see the first new face in nine weeks. "Are you alright?" She helped him to his feet as his eyes struggled to focus. The moment she stopped supporting his arm, he collapsed down on the rug again. "That's the trans-mat." She explained. "It scrambles your head a bit. Took me a while to recover. Though why they put you in there, I don't know. What's your name?"

"The Doctor, I think." He mumbled. "Where am I?"

"Oh, you've been chosen." She grinned. "You're in the house!"

The Doctor became aware of the brightly coloured walls, mirrors and swivel cameras he was surrounded by. His skewed mind was still unaware of how he'd got there, but he'd somehow arrived in the Big Brother house.

On the far side of the room, a man and a woman were getting up from some armchairs, sculpted to look like hands. The man looked less than pleased by his arrival. "This isn't fair. We've got an eviction in five minutes! Why would they put a new housemate in now? I've been here all nine weeks. I've followed the rules, I haven't had a single warning. Then he comes swanning in!"

"If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am." Groaned the woman.

"_This is Big Brother."_ Announced a voice. "_Could the Doctor come to the diary room._"

Next to an ancestral portrait of Davina Macall, the Doctor spotted a sparkly door with an eye shaped button next to it. Finding it unlocked, he stepped through to find a sculpted foam chair facing a camera on a stand.

"_You are live on Channel 44,000. Please do not swear._" Said Big Brother.

The Doctor was tempted to swear anyway. "You have got to be kidding me." He said instead.

* * *

In a much larger and darker room, Rose too was picking herself up off the floor, trying to focus on the world around her.

"Are you ok?" Said a man standing over her. "That's the transmat, it does your head in. You may have a touch of amnesia. What's your name?"

She thought for a moment. "Rose."

He nodded. She was recovering then, if a bit slowly. "Just do what the Android says and you should be fine."

"Android? So, like, a robot?"

She was dim-witted too. That boded well for him. "The Android's word is law."

"Positions everybody!" Shouted a woman wearing a headset.

"Come on." He helped her up as the world began to return to focus. "They're starting soon."

"I was travelling." Rose said. "With the Doctor. He wouldn't just leave me."

The man just led her to a set of podiums bathed in blue light.

"But I'm not even supposed to be here."

"It says Rose on the podium."

Rose squinted. Sure enough there was a podium in the middle with her name on it. She staggered over to it. As her vision cleared, she had a better look round at the six podiums set in a semi circle, round a figure in the centre, in a set up that looked familiar to her. "Hold on. I must be going mad. This looks like..."

"Ann droid activated." Said the woman in headphones.

The Ann droid raised its head up. A head with a side parting sculpted on top and a set of round glasses over her eyepieces.

"The android!" Rose gasped. "No, the Ann droid!"

"Welcome to The Weakest Link_._" Said the Ann droid.

* * *

"Here we go again." Said the soft voiced robot peering over Jack. "We'll have to do something about that outfit. And he's got that whole lantern jaw thing going on."

"I don't know." Said a second robot. "I quite like lantern jaws."

"But they're soooo last year!"

Jack fumbled about and pushed himself into a seated position. "Excuse me. Could either of you fine ladies tell me where I am?"

"You're on our show." Said robot 1. "And we have got to get you a new outfit."

"But I was with the Doctor. I..." He raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with the outfit I have?" As the room came into focus, he realised he was on the set of some sort of style programme. A huge rack of clothes lined one of the walls, while mirrors were dotted round the others at various angles. There was also a lazer-like device he couldn't quite fathom opposite him.

"The shirt is so dull." Said robot 2. "And where _did_ you get that denim?"

"A place in Cardiff. I think it was called... Topshop."

"_Gasp._ Fashion disaster." Said robot 1. "We have to get started right away. Just stand up and let the defabricator do its work."

"Defabricator?" Said Jack. "What's that exactly?"

One of the robots pressed a button on the lazer-like device, which shone a beam of light at him. He felt a tickling sensation as all of his clothes unravelled at the threads, before dissolving completely.

"Defabricator." Jack grinned. "Does exactly what it says on the tin." A thought occurred to him. "Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?"

"Absolutely!"

"Ladies." He grinned. "Your viewing figures just went up!"

* * *

Just over 100 years beforehand, archaeologists excavating the ruins of the temple of the BBC had located a buried chamber full of archives of recordings from millennia in the past. Protected from the elements and still watchable. They'd learnt a lot about life in the time periods these recordings had come from, but they'd also provided great entertainment. In particular, the long forgotten game shows had enthralled the public and it wasn't long before they were remaking them for a modern audience. With some minor tweaks of course.

Lynda knew all about these game shows, having studied them extensively for her media studies course. It was just such a shame that media studies degrees didn't get a look in with most employers. Big Brother looked to be the most exciting thing that would happen in her life, which was kind of sad when she thought about it.

But her mum had always taught her to keep a positive mental attitude about things. It was an attitude she'd maintained in the house and she'd endeavoured to brighten the place up, whether her housemates were willing to assist or not. The last two left, Stood and Crosbie, were particularly determined to remain miserable. They were probably tired, what with the run coming to an end.

She hoped that the new man who'd come in would be more chatty. Unfortunately, from the moment he'd arrived, he'd only been interested in running his sonic device over the doors.

"Can't open it." He muttered.

"Deadlock sealed." She said, in an attempt to make conversation. "Ever since Big Brother 511, where they all walked out. You must remember that?"

"No." He said shortly and went to scan one of the mirrors.

"Exoglass." Lynda said. "You'd need a nuclear bomb to get through."

"Don't tempt me." Said the Doctor.

As he kept looking over the walls like a cat trying to get into the cat food cupboard, Lynda leaned towards him. "I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world but... What do people think? Am I popular out there? My name's Lynda. Lynda with a y, not with an I. Linda with an I got thrown out 'cos she damaged a camera. Am I popular."

"Don't really remember." The Doctor said vaguely.

Her face fell. "Does that mean they don't notice me? 'cos some people get chucked out just 'cos they're not noticeable."

The Doctor stopped to look at her. The public's opinion was clearly very important to the girl. "Yeah. They do notice. They say you're... nice. You're sweet."

"Oh really?" She smiled. "No one's ever told me that before."

The Doctor, meanwhile, was looking over her shoulder at what he'd thought were patio doors. On closer inspection, he could see that the view outside was projected on a screen. "Shouldn't there be a garden back there?" He asked Lynda, glad to at least have someone to chat to in his companions' absence.

"Don't be daft. Who has a garden any more? Don't tell me you've got a garden!"

"No, I've just got the TARDIS." His eyes went wide as a memory came creeping back. "I remember now!"

"That's the amnesia wearing off!" She said excitedly. "So, where did they get you?"

"We'd just left Raxacoricofallapatorius. Then we went to Kyoto, 1582. We just made it out alive. We were together in the control room. We were laughing. But then there was this bright white light. Coming from the walls. I woke up here."

"That's the trans mat." Lynda nodded. "It's how they pick the contestants."

"It's more than that. 'cos I'm not just some passing traveller. A tiny little trans mat beam doesn't just get inside my ship. Whatever did was 500 times more powerful." He turned to the nearest mirror, which he knew a cameraman to be behind. "Here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. I'm getting out. And then I'm gonna find you."

* * *

Davitch Parvale was used to getting occasional threats from the contestants. They didn't tend to bother him. He was just doing his job. And they had no way of carrying out their threats anyway. But something in the Doctor's look made him think that the man actually did have a plan.

As a precaution, he had a look at the man's data files and his eyes went wide. He hurried over to his friend, Nadine, and tapped her on the shoulder. "I've got a problem. I may need help."

"Hold on." She said. "I'm in the middle of something... And nineteen, eighteen..." She watched on the screen she was monitoring as the floor manager on The Weakest Link called everyone to their positions.

"But I need to find the Doctor. I didn't sign up for this..." Rose was saying to anyone in earshot. When no-one listened she turned to leave but the man who'd helped her up from the floor, who's podium was labelled Roderick, grabbed her arm.

"We're about to start." He groaned. "Just play the game."

Rose shrugged. "What the heck. I'll play if you like. Play to win."

"Three, two, one and cue." Said the floor manager.

"The rules are very simple." Said the Ann Droid. "The object of each round is to create a chain of nine consecutive correct answers and earn an increasing amount for a single communal pot within a certain time limit. An incorrect answer breaks the chain and loses any money earned in that chain. However, before their question is asked, a contestant can choose to bank the current amount of money earned in a chain to a safe pot, after which the chain starts afresh. So, with that in mind, albeit your very small minds, let's play The Weakest link. Start the clock." She swivveled her head to face the first contestant. "Agorax, the name of which basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?"

"Bread." Said Agorax.

"Correct." The Annd Droid swivveled to face the next person. "Fitch, in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"

Fitch stammered for a moment, then said, "Is it Clavadoe?

"No, Pandoff. Rose, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"

Rose was just sniggering. She had no idea how she'd ended up here of all places, but her travels had taken away her ability to be surprised. Besides, this was quite fun. "One hundred!" She said, glad to have got a maths question, rather than a cultural-based one.

"Correct. Roderick."

"Bank." Roderick said.

"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word dangle but not in the word gland?

"E." He said confidently.

"Correct. Colleen, in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?

"Default."

"Correct. Broff, the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?"

Broff had a look on his face, like the idiot in the back of class who's abruptly been called up by the teacher. "Er, Touchdown?" He said, trying desperately to remember some history lesson he hadn't really paid attention to.

"No, Torchwood. Agorax, in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word facetious?"

"Vowels."

"Correct. Fitch, in biology, which blood cells contain iron? Red or white?"

"White."

"No, red. Rose, in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising', the Grexnik is married to whom?"

Rose laughed again. Her lack of future knowledge suddenly made her chances of playing to win look slim. "How should I know?"

"No, the correct answer is Lord Drayvole."

* * *

Up in the control room, Davitch and Nadine were now looking at Rose with just as much fascination as he'd been looking at the Doctor. "Why's she laughing?" Nadine said. Didn't this girl realise... It suddenly dawned on her. This girl didn't realise at all!

"And I've got a housemate who appeared out of no-where." Said Davitch. "Told you. It's like the game's running itself."

* * *

In the style room, Jack was having a similar level of fun. He was busy trying on a black jeans and vest combination, which he tested by adopting a series of action hero poses in the mirrors, while the robots, who identified themselves as Trin-EE and Zu-Zanna, offered their own observations.

"It's the buccaneer look." Said Trin-EE. "A touch of Pyred. And a little dash of President Schwarzenegger."

Jack peered over his reflection. "I'm not sure about the vest. I was thinking a little colour to spice things up."

"Absolutely not!" Said Zu-Zanna. "Never wear black with colour. It makes the colour look cheap and the black look boring."

Jack shrugged. They seemed to be programmed to know what they were talking about.

"Now let's talk jackets..."

"I kinda like the first one..." Jack reached for a leather trench coat.

"No. Too Hell's Angel. Try this one." She pulled a waist length jacket from the rack. "Shorter, so it shows off the bum." A point she illustrated by patting him there.

"Works for me." He grinned, patting her metallic breasts.

"Once we've sorted out the outfit, we can look at the face." Said Trin-EE. "Ever thought about plastic surgery?"

"A little bit." He shrugged. "Tighten up the jaw line. Maybe raise these eyebrows a bit..."

"A little more ambition I think." Said Zu-Zanna. "Let's try something, cutting edge." Unseen By Jack, she ran a final fault check on her chainsaw attachment.

* * *

"So Rose." Said the Ann Droid. "What do you actually do?"

"Just, travel a bit." She shrugged.

"Travel is another way of saying unemployed."

"Well... It's not quite like that..."

"Do you have a job?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Then you _are _unemployed. And yet you still have money for peroxide. Anyway, why Fitch?"

"Well, she... got a couple of questions wrong." Rose glanced to the woman on her right. A tear was trickling down her cheek. She wondered what she'd said to get the woman that upset.

"And you'd know about that, wouldn't you?" The Droid accused.

Rose was impressed. Whoever had programmed this machine had done their job well. "Well, I can't vote for myself. So... It had to be Fitch."

Looking to her right, she saw that Fitch was crying much harder. Was this really so important to her? "I'm sorry, but that's how the game is played. I had to vote for someone...

"Let me try again." Fitch sobbed, suddenly in near hysterics. "It was the lights and everything I couldn't concentrate..."

"In fact, with three answers wrong, it's Broff who was the weakest link. But it's votes that count."

"I'm sorry." Fitch practically screamed. "Oh God, please help me!"

Rose glanced around at some of the others. Each was avoiding looking at Fitch. Broff, looked positively sick. She was beginning to realise that something was seriously wrong.

"Fitch. You are the weakest link. Goodbye." Said the Ann Droid. She opened her mouth and a probe extended. A beam of light shot out and Fitch went up in a puff of smoke.

"And cut to adverts." Said the floor manager, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. "Back on in five."

"Wait a minute!" Said Rose. "What just happened?"

"She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated." Roderick shrugged. At Rose's blank look, he added "Blasted into atoms."

But Rose's blank look was for entirely different reasons. "But I voted for her!" She looked in horror at the board in her hands. "This is sick! All of you are sick! I'm not..."

"I'm not playing!" Broff beat her to it. "I'm sorry, I can't do it!" He turned to run, as the other contestants suddenly became very interested in their shoes again. The Ann Droid lazily spun its head round and shot him with the beam. Broff vanished from sight.

"Don't run." Said Roderick. "It's play or die."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Technically, Big Brother comes from Channel 4, later 5. But the BBC do show footage of it sometimes so I assume they have some clips in their archives.**

**I don't recall the woman in the control room being given a name on screen. Nor does the TARDIS index file have one listed. Nadine's as good a name as any.**


	2. Lynda With a Y

**Chapter 2: Lynda With a Y**

"Big Brother said all housemates must gather on the sofas." Stood insisted.

"Busy getting out thanks." The Doctor replied, not looking up from the brickwork he was trying to resonate.

"We all get punished if you don't." Said Lynda.

The Doctor sighed and went to join them. "Maybe I'll get voted out then."

"Don't be stupid." Said Stood. "You can't get voted out. You've only just got in."

"_Big Brother house, this is Davinadroid._" Announced a new voice. Lynda hated that voice. It always signalled the end of someone's time. "_Stood, Lynda and Crosbie. You have all been nominated for eviction. The votes have been counted and I can now reveal that the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother house is..._" They all leaned forward, holding hands in anticipation. Except for the Doctor, who just slumped back, only taking Crosbie's hand when she grabbed his. Perhaps he wasn't bothered because he wasn't up for eviction, which was probably a bit heartless. "_Crosbie._" Davinadroid finished. "_Crosbie, you have one minute to say your farewells, and then it's time to leave._"

Crosbie began to hyperventilate. Lynda did what she could to calm her. Stood noticeably suppressed a whoop, then told her that it should have been him. The Doctor just lay back in frustration.

The others helped Crosbie up and she made her way over to the main door, which opened for her, revealing a narrow, blank passageway, with another door at the far end.

"Thanks for the food, you're a great cook." Stood said. To his credit, he never wished eviction on anybody, just didn't want it for himself.

"Thanks." Crosbie sighed. "Time to go then."

Lynda and Stood flanked the doorway and sadly raised their arms together in an arch formation, for Crosbie to walk through. She made an half-successful effort to put on a brave face and exited. The door slid shut behind her.

Lynda and Stood hugged each other. "I can't believe she's gone." Lynda said.

Back at the sofas, the Doctor was giving them a look, like he was surrounded by idiots. "It's only a game show. She'll have a great time on the outside. Write a book, release a single, fitness video, she'll be laughing."

Lynda had had a good impression of the man when she'd first spoken to him. Now he was beginning to seem a bit callous. "What do you mean on the outside?"

Before the Doctor could answer, the TV screen opposite the sofas blinked on and displayed a view of Crosbie stood in the passageway, facing the far door.

"What're they waiting for?" Said the Doctor. "Why can't they just get on with it?"

"Stop that, it's not funny!" Cried Lynda. The Doctor rolled his eyes and lay back further. It was then that it dawned on her. He genuinely didn't know. But he'd find out soon enough.

Crosbie breathed deeply as she watched the panel open above her. She wished deeply that she could have had someone with her to hold her hand. The device activated and she lit up bright, before vanishing.

The Doctor looked stunned. "What was that?"

"Disintegrator beam." Said Stood.

The Doctor babbled, as though temporarily unable to form sentences.

"She's been evicted... From life." Lynda explained.

* * *

"No trans mat's were activated. No new contestants were added." Davitch showed Nadine the data readouts. "It's like those stories you read..."

"Don't start that again." She rolled her eyes. "I think you need to take a session off."

"Perhaps... If you take it with me." He grinned.

"Definitely don't start that!" She smiled.

He shrugged. Can't blame a man for trying. "But the rumours go back decades. Something hidden away under the transmissions."

Nadine peered at the far end of the room. "The controller would know. She monitors everything."

"Not everything. You've always got to allow for human error."

"Well between you and me." She muttered. "I don't think she's been human for years."

The two of them gazed at the controller, hung up on the wall, suspended by a series of cables and tubes. Some of them keeping her body supplied with fluids, most connecting her up to every system in the station. Her unfocussed eyes gazing forward, though she'd rarely been aware of the room around her. When she wasn't giving instructions, she would twitch and mutter to herself.

* * *

To say the Doctor was infuriated would be an understatement. "Are you all insane? You just step right into that disintegrator beam! Is it that important getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?"

"You're talking like we have a choice!" Lynda cried.

"You signed up for it, didn't you?"

"Don't be stupid." Stood groaned. "No-one signs up. That's how they did it centuries back."

"You get chosen." Lynda explained, though still not sure how he could be in ignorance of the fact. "Everyone on Earth's eligible, whether you like it or not. And it's nonstop too. There are 60 Big Brother houses running all the time."

"They had to cut back." Stood muttered. "It's not what it was."

"And what does the winner get?"

"To live." Said Lynda.

"Is that it?"

"Isn't that enough?"

The Doctor went to prod at the walls and mirrors with renewed vigour. "This world's a nightmare. And Rose is in the middle of it. This other contestant, Linda with an I, what did you say she was evicted for?"

"Damaging a camera." Said Lynda with a Y.

"What, like this?" He soniced the nearest swivel camera, which flashed and sparked and died.

* * *

Jack stood, gazing at his reflection in his tennis outfit. He took a few half-hearted swings and shook his head. "I don't think it'll work. It's too safe. Too pleasant. And you'd never keep it clean."

"Quite right." Said Trin-E. "Stage two ready."

"Bring it on." He grinned.

The robots activated the defabricator again, leaving Jack stood naked once more.

"Time for the face off." Zu-Zanna announced.

"What's that? Do I get to fight it out with some other guy?" Jack grinned.

"No. Face off. Literally." Her hands folded away to reveal a chainsaw on one arm and a collection of needles on the other. Next to her, the other robot had produced a massive pair of clippers and a drill.

"I think he'd look good with a dog's head." Said Trin-E.

"I think he'd look better with no head." Said Zu-Zannah.

"We could stitch his legs to the middle of his chest."

"And move his eyeballs to his knees."

"Nothing is too extreme!"

Jack smiled. "Now hold on ladies, I don't want to have to shoot either of you."

If the robots had had eyebrows, they'd have raised one of them. "But you're unarmed." Said Zu-Zanna

"And naked." Trin-E added.

"You think?" Said Jack, pulling a small gun from behind his back.

"But... That's a compact lazer deluxe." Said Zu-Zanna.

"Where _did_ you hide that?" Said Trin-E.

"You really don't want to know." Jack replied, before shooting them each in the head.

* * *

"You are the weakest link. Goodbye." Said the Ann Droid. A quick blast from her mouth and Coleen was gone.

Rose had joined the others in looking away. Though she hadn't voted for the girl this time, she felt really sick having to compete against these people to survive. Especially when she had no right to still be there. In fact why was she still there?

"She was clever. She banked money for the team. Why did you vote for her?" She muttered to Roderick.

"Because I want to go against you in the final round." He shrugged. "You're stupider than the others. You didn't even know princess Vossaheen's surname. I go head to head with you. Become the strongest link. Run free and get a shipload of credits, courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation."

Rose's eyes widened. "What do you mean, who's Bad Wolf?"

"They run the Game Station." Roderick prided himself on keeping his voice casual so it didn't sound like he was explaining it to a little child.

"But what does it mean, Bad Wolf?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "It's just a name. Like in that old Earth nursery rhyme."

"But we keep hearing it everywhere we go." Said Rose.

_"The things you've seen. The darkness. The big bad wolf. No, you haven't seen it yet. But it's coming!"_

_The Doctor paused for a moment when he noticed that some vandal had painted Bad wolf onto the side of the TARDIS._

_"Bad Wolf One descending." Said a voice on a speaker._

_The Doctor and Rose returned to the auditorium, where the Mox of Balboon was chatting to the Face of Boe about the bad wolf scenario._

_The Doctor looked up, full of glee. Even the words Böse wolf on the side of the bomb couldn't dampen his spirits._

_"And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe had just announced he's pregnant."_

_"Margret raised an eyebrow."Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh."_

_"Yeah, but how did you think of it?"_

_"Random choice. Saw it on a Welsh children's book and thought it sounded good. I don't know. Does it matter?"_

_"The Doctor turned to face them, with a ghostly look in his eyes. "Blaidd Drwg."_

_"What's it mean?" Said Rose. But even as she asked, the TARDIS translation began to reshape the letters into English for her. "Bad wolf?" She read. "But I've heard that before. I've heard that lots of times."_

_The Doctor nodded. "Two words, following us wherever we go."_

"Two words. Like its written all over the universe." Rose continued.

"What you on about?" Said Roderick.

Rose decided he wasn't the best person to be talking to about this. If the Bad Wolf Corporation were in charge of these games, then maybe they'd been planning this. She was here for a purpose.

* * *

"_Doctor. You have been evicted."_ Announced Davinadroid. "_You have one minute to say your farewells, then it's time to leave the house."_

The Doctor leapt for joy and bounded over to the main door.

Lynda rushed after him. Stood followed less enthusiastically. He sighed at the man's stupidity. He'd seen losing teams on The Crystal Maze with more survival instinct than him.

"You're mad you are!" Said Lynda. "It's like you want to be evicted."

"I said keep an eye on him, not kill him." Muttered Nadine.

"Nothing I can do. It's automatic. He broke the rules so he gets chucked out."

"So long!" The Doctor called, leaping through the door the moment it opened. He looked up at the panel above. Well, go on then. Disintegrate me!"

"Eviction in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Announced Davinadroid. But then the whole thing powered down. The disintegrator ray drooped down. Some override had cancelled everything.

Up in the control room, Nadia glanced at Davitch, who just shrugged. This was turning into a long day.

"Ha ha!" Cried the Doctor. "I knew it! Someone brought me here. That must mean they want me alive. If they wanted me dead, they'd've transmatted me into a volcano. Now, I imagine security's not as tight this end so... He soniced the far door, and it clicked open.

To Lynda's surprise, the door in front of her opened too. Noticing this, the Doctor held his hand out to her, saying "Come with me."

"I can't." She said.

"Lynda. You stay in there, you've got a 50-50 chance of survival. Come with me, I guarantee you'll survive."

Lynda looked back at the house, then forward at the Doctor. She couldn't go against the system like this. She was just an unemployed media studies graduate. But something about the man told her that he could lead her to better things.

"Lynda." He said. "You're sweet. From what I've seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?"

She made up her mind and stepped through after him.

Now alone in the house, Stood looked at the nearest mirror. "Does that mean I win?"

* * *

The moment they stepped out of the house, the Doctor found himself in a massive, grey-walled chamber, which was all too familiar to him. "Hold on. This is Satellite 5."

The place was a lot quieter than last time he'd been there. A thin layer of dust sat over everything, but numerous computer terminals round the walls told him that the floor was still active, it was just that no-one ever came here except the winning contestants. That meant no guards, which was a bonus.

"No-one's called it Satellite 5 in about 100 years." Said Lynda, as he walked around scanning everything electronic with the sonic. "It's the Game Station now."

"100 years exactly." Said the Doctor. "It's the year 200,100 isn't it? I was here before. They were broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble up on floor 500. No biggie. Sorted it. Home in time for tea."

"100 years ago?" Said Lynda. "You were here 100 years ago? Looking good for it."

"I moisturise." He ran his sonic over some of the circuits in the wall. "I'm getting the strangest readings. This place is brimming with all kinds of energy. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What do they need all that energy for?"

"Dunno." Lynda shrugged. "I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."

"I had two friends travelling with me." He pushed on. "They must've got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?"

"Dunno. Could be anywhere. There's 100 different games."

"Like what."

"Ten floors of Big Brother. There's a different house behind each of those doors." She pointed to each of the six doors round the room. It amazed her that she'd finally found a use for that essay she'd written on the running of the Game Station. "Then there's Call My Bluff, with real guns. Countdown, where you have 30 seconds to stop a bomb going off. Total Wipeout... Speaks for itself. Bull's eye, where they have to fight it out with poisoned darts. Stars in Their Eyes, _literally_ stars in their eyes, if they don't sing properly, they get blinded. Oh, then there's Ordeal or No Ordeal..."

"And you watch this stuff?" The Doctor interrupted.

"Everyone does. How come you don't?"

"Never paid for my licence."

Her eyes widened. "You could get executed for that!"

"Let 'em try!"

Talking to this Doctor was certainly a baffling experience for the girl. He seemed so sure of himself, but so out of place. "You keep saying things that make no sense."

"Doesn't really matter to me." He returned to scanning the doors.

"Does to me. I've just put my life in your hands. So who are ya?"

"Just a traveller. Just passing through. Believe it or not, all I want is a quiet life. These things keep happening to me."

"So..." Lynda asked. "If you get out, what will you do? Will you just fly off again?"

"Fast as I can."

"Perhaps I could... Come with you?" She watched as the Doctor turned to gaze at her. "I wouldn't get in the way or anything." She continued quickly. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble..."

"It's not a bad idea." Said the Doctor. This girl clearly was in need for better things than this bizarre dystopia. Always room for more in the TARDIS. "But first we've got to get out. Step 1: Know your enemy. Who's in charge here? Who runs Satellite... The Game Station?"

Spotting something on the wall, through the gloom, Lynda decided it would be better to show the Doctor, rather than tell him. She pulled a lever and the main lights came on, illuminating the _Bad Wolf_ logo posted across the wall. "Our glorious leaders." She laughed. But the Doctor didn't laugh. In fact, he looked slightly pale.

**Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited and followed these stories so far.**


	3. Aftermath

**Chapter 3: Aftermath**

Davitch sighed as he watched the Doctor and Lynda on the security screen. "Alright, you win. I'll ask the controller. Perhaps you could check the transmat logs. See how they got on board." He looked through some files. "Archive 6."

As Nadine went to do that, he got up and approached the controller, wired up above everyone else. He had all the poise and certainty of a child that's been called to see the head teacher. "Controller. Um... We seem to be having a... bit of a problem. There's... Well, there's contestants outside the games, and the alarms haven't gone off..."

"No security. Continue working." Said the controller.

"But I can't I have to deal with the intruders."

"Continue working. No security. The games will continue." At this point, she gasped in pain and gritted her teeth in concentration.

Nadine, meanwhile, was yelping as the hand pad to open the door had simply zapped her hand. No doubt, this was the source of the controller's pain as well.

"Archive 6 is out of bounds." Said the controller.

"But I need to check the transmat logs..."

"Archive 6 is out of bounds! The games continue. Staff are reminded to be alert of solar flare activity."

Nadine and Davitch looked at each other in confusion, she wasn't normally this obstructive.

* * *

Jack twisted the last few adaptors into place. He'd spent the last ten minutes or so upgrading the defabricator, using parts he'd extracted from the style robots. He'd removed a lot of the filters and the resistors and focused the beam to the point where, the moment he pulled the trigger, he could demolish the nearest wall.

"Well ladies." He said to the robots. "The pleasure was all mine. At the end of the day that's what realty counts."

He hotwired the door release and made his way out. He swung his gun left and right, expecting guards to come swarming over. But the room was deserted. Thankful for small blessings, he headed for the lift, looking at his scanner watch.

"Two hearts, that's him, which floor?"

* * *

The Doctor's search for a proper computer terminal brought him to an observation deck. The moment the view came in sight, Lynda rushed forward in excitement. "Wow! I've never seen it like that before, not from orbit. Planet Earth!"

But it wasn't right. Far from the tranquil blue-green marble or the galactic hub, lit by bright lights of cities and shuttlecraft. The Earth of this time looked sick. All the land and sea masses were hidden behind a massive multi-coloured cloud. One colour in particular dominated the atmosphere, and that was grey. "What's happened to it?" Said the Doctor.

"What do you mean?" Said Lynda. "It's always been like this. Ever since I was born. See that over there? That's the great Atlantic smog storm. Been brewing for 20 years. We get told when it's safe to breathe outside."

"And what do you do the rest of the time?" She could tell the Doctor was somehow horrified by the idea.

"Dunno, just stay in..."

"And watch the telly. Half the world's too fat, half the world's too thin and you just stay inside, filling your time with reality TV." A thought occurred to him. "Mind you, do you still have that show where three people have to live with a bear?"

"Bear With Me?" She said excitedly. "Oh yes! I love that show." She laughed at the memories.

"Do you remember that celebrity edition, when the bear got in the bathroom and..." As they each burnt out laughing at this point, they remembered that episode very well.

"But it's wrong though." Said the Doctor. "This should be the fourth great and bountiful human empire. I put it right 100 years ago. Things should have sorted themselves out by now."

"But that was when the trouble started." Said Lynda. "100 years ago, like you said. When all the news channels just shut down overnight."

"But that was me. I did that!"

"There was nothing in their place. No news coming in. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they all collapsed."

The Doctor had gone pale. "I created this world." He looked down in horror at the planet below. He liked to think that he left every world a happier place than when he'd arrived. And in general that was the case. But not always. Every action has collateral damage, and how many planets like this must he have left in his wake?

* * *

The moment Rose had scribbled down Agorax's name, she'd known she'd signed his death warrant. She tried to tell herself that she would have voted for him, even if she hadn't known Roderick would, but she could feel the gnawing pain in her stomach, telling her otherwise, especially as the Ann Droid disposed of him.

"That's the end of tactical voting." Roderick said smugly. "You're on your own now."

If the Doctor was trying to find her, Rose hoped it would be soon.

* * *

"Hello handsome." Jack called, as he stepped onto the observation deck. Amazingly, the Doctor only grunted in response, before asking "Have you seen Rose?"

"Been trying to find her. Can't pick her up. All these games are shielded."

"Well I'll find her, as soon as I get this computer working." The Doctor yanked at cables and valves within the machine, with all the fury of a man tearing up a book he didn't like.

"Well you'd better hurry up, these games don't have a happy ending."

"Do you think I don't know that?" He shouted.

"Try that, patch it thorough the main system." Jack handed him his scanner.

"Thanks." The Doctor practically snatched it off him.

Realising that the timelord wasn't in a conversational mood, Jack turned to the girl instead. "And you are?"

"Lynda Moss." She grinned.

"If you're going to flirt, take it outside." The Doctor muttered.

"I was just saying hello."

"For you, that's flirting." The Doctor gave the terminal a solid kick. "Not compatible? This stupid thing's not working!" He tugged at it, as though hoping to rip it open and watch the information he needed spill out.

"Here, let me." Jack opened the main panel more delicately.

"This should be really easy to hack." The Doctor growled. "It's not just be game shows, something else's being transmitted here."

"Like what?" Said Jack.

"Dunno. But it had to be tied up with that whole bad wolf thing. Someone's been manipulating me my whole life, drawing me into a trap. And Rose is caught in the middle of it."

* * *

After one final round, to add a few credits to the prize money, Rose and Roderick were ready to go head to head. They'd each be asked five questions Whoever got the most right got to live. Roderick had already got his first question correct.

"Rose," said the Ann Droid "in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which ancient British city?"

Rose had never heard of a ravine named after a British city. It must have been formed, or renamed, sometime in the future. "Is it York?" She said hopefully.

"No, the correct answer is Sheffield."

* * *

The Doctor finally had some luck. "Found her! Floor 407!"

Lynda gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. "She's with the Ann Droid! You've got to get her out of there!"

"Roderick, in literature, the author of Lucky was Jackie who?"

"Stewart?"

"No, the correct answer is Collins. Rose, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"

"Boe!" She shouted without thinking. "The Face of Boe!"

The Ann Droid was silent for a long time. "That is the correct answer."

* * *

The Doctor banged on the monitor of the lift, some primitive part of his mind telling him that that would make the floor numbers go up faster.

* * *

"Roderick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?"

Roderick was just as nervous as the girl now. Somehow the right questions weren't coming his way when it really mattered. "Hoshbin Frane." He said nervously.

"That is the correct answer. Rose, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"

Rose tried to think of an educated guess. Some planet a name like that might had come from. When none came to mind she said. "Er, is it Mars?

"No, the correct answer is Loki. Roderick, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?"

"Would that be a goffle?" He said after a lot of thought.

"No, the correct answer is a paab. Rose, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"

"Shoes." Was as good a guess as any.

"No, the correct answer is hats."

* * *

Lynda led them to the correct door, never having run so hard in her life.

The Doctor ran his sonic over the hand pad, it hadn't worked on the Big Brother houses downstairs but now he had the motivation. It had to work!

"Stand back, let me blast it." Said Jack.

"You can't. It's made of hydra combination."

* * *

"Roderick, in physics, who discovered the Fifteen Dash Ten Barric Fields?"

Roderick smiled, he knew this one. "San Hazeldine."

"No, the correct answer is San Chen."

"Rose, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?"

Rose thought long and hard, knowing she had to get this question right or die. She racked her brains, as though knowlege from millenia after she was born would somehow surface. Finally, she had to admit that she couldn't possibly know the answer and there was only one Icelandic city she knew anyway. "Reykjavik?"

"No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura."

Roderick made no attempt to hide his delight, leaping for joy. "Haha! I did it! I beat you!"

"But I'm not meant to be here!" Rose shouted. "I need to find the Doctor. He must be here somewhere, he wouldn't leave me!"

"Roderick." The Ann Droid ignored her. "You are the strongest link and you will be transported home with 1870 credits."

"Thank you so much." He grinned.

"This game is illegal, and I'm ordering you to stop!" Rose screamed.

Then came the most wonderful sound in the world. The Doctor shouted from the doorway. "Rose! Stop this game now!"

What happened next happened in seconds. The Ann Droid announced "Rose, you leave this life with nothing." She bolted for the Doctor, screaming a warning at him that the robot was armed. The Droid's head followed her round and fired. Rose vanished to dust.

Everything suddenly went silent in the Doctor's mind. He was vaguely aware of Jack hurling abuse at the show runners. The sudden onrush of guards. The gun barrel being pressed to the back of his head. Jack throwing his gun down so hard he hoped to smash a hole in the station. But this all seemed insignificant, because nine tenths of his mind was focused on the cloud of dust which had been Rose Tyler seconds before.


	4. The Monsters Behind The Veil

**Chapter 4: The Monsters Behind the Veil**

The Doctor maintained total silence as he, Lynda and Jack were led away to the interrogation room.

The guard captain was enjoying this. Very few people ever broke into the Game Station. The guards were just there to look nice. Whenever he did get a chance to shout at somebody, he'd milk it for all it was worth. He held up the sonic device he'd found in the man's pocket. "Can you tell us the purpose of this device sir?"

The Doctor stared at the same spot on the table he'd been staring at the whole interview.

"Can you tell us how you got on board?"

"Leave him alone!" Cried Lynda. "He's..."

But the guard grabbed her by the chin. "I was asking him!" He turned back to the Doctor. "Can you tell us who you are?"

The Doctor never spoke. But nor did he offer any resistance as he was led to a photo room to have his mug shot taken. He even turned to the left and the right when instructed.

Finally, the guards had the three passive guests in a cell. "For trespassing on board, you will be taken to the Lunar Colony. There to be held without trial. You may not appeal this sentence. Is this clear?"

The group gave no response. The captain took this as a yes and went to leave.

"Let's do it." Said the Doctor.

Though there'd been no prearrangement, Jack knew just what he meant. He leapt up and karate chopped the back of the guard's head, just as he opened the door, and the man collapsed to the ground.

A guard outside the door reached for his gun but Jack swung on the doorframe, launching himself at the man, he grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground before he could get anywhere near the weapon.

A third guard rushed forward to help his friend, but was promptly grabbed by the Doctor, who used his momentum to slam him into the nearest wall, knocking him out.

This shocked his companions. He'd seemed such a peaceful man up to this point. But, if there was one thing that would get the Doctor in a blind rage, it was killing Rose Tyler.

Jack grabbed the guard's gun and clubbed him in the head with it. With them all incapacitated, he seized their weapons off the table and led the way out to find the bastards responsible.

Jack was having trouble carrying three guns so the Doctor took one off him and marched past him into the lift, raising it up. "Floor 500."

* * *

"Now we're in trouble." Said Davitch. "Clear the floor. There's an intruder on his way up here. With a gun. Controller, could you close down the lift?" He looked at the security scanner of the lift. To his increasing alarm, it kept on rising. "This is an emergency, you have to close the lift!"

"All staff are reminded to be on the watch for solar flares." Said the controller.

The doors at the far end opened up and the Doctor and Jack stormed through. "Lower all weapons and step away from the desks!" Shouted Jack. He picked out the weediest looking operative on the floor. "You, lock all the doors in the station. Keep the guards locked out of this room."

"Step aside." Said the Doctor. There were two rows of computer banks in the room, with seats on each side and an aisle between. At his instruction, the operatives scurried out of the central aisle and the Doctor marched up to the wired up girl he guessed was in charge of them. "Who's in charge of Satellite 5? Who's running the games? It's not just games, what's going on?"

"Um, she can't hear you." Davitch stepped forward nervously. The Doctor swung his gun round to point at him. "Don't shoot!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, like I was ever gonna shoot?" He tossed the massive gun he was carrying to Davitch. "So, what were you saying about her?"

Davitch blinked in surprise. "But... I've got your gun."

"Then shoot me. Why can't she answer?"

"Well, she..." The gun felt heavy in his hands. "Can I put this down?"

"If you like."

"Thanks. Well, she's been conditioned to respond to requests from staff members. Since you're not staff, she doesn't recognise your voice pattern. You don't exist to her.

"What's her name?"

"We don't know. She was chosen when she was 2. It's the only life she's ever known. Wired up to the station, controlling all the games. But, um, all that stuff you said about something being behind the Game Station, I think you're right. There's been strange happenings going back years. Unauthorised transmats, bizarre signals. I've kept a log..." he led the Doctor over to his station to show him.

While he was doing that, Jack finished securing the main doors. He reckoned that should keep the guards out for ten minutes or so. That done, he went to look behind a door to one side.

"You can't go in there!" Said Nadine. "Archive 6 is out of bounds."

Jack waved both his guns at her. "Do I look like an out of bounds sort of guy?"

He put his hand on the pad. To Nadine's surprise, the door that had been denying everyone access all day opened the first time for him.

Jack stepped through into a small white room. There, he found the TARDIS. He walked into the console room. There, he noticed Rose's jacket hung over a bar and tried hard not to look in that direction. Instead, he went and pressed some buttons on the scanner. What he saw next amazed him.

* * *

"If you're not holding us hostage, let us out." Nadine insisted. "The staff are terrified."

"That's the same staff who execute hundreds of innocent contestants every day." The Doctor growled back.

"That's not our fault, we're just doing our jobs."

"And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me. Now back off!" Some of the worst acts in species history were committed by people who were just obeying orders. While the people giving them would insist that they weren't killing anyone personally.

"Solar flare activity in the delta quadrant." Said the controller.

All the monitors in the room abruptly went dead, along with four in five lights.

"Standard procedure during solar flares." Davitch explained quickly. "Whole base powers down. Earth gets a few repeats."

"While we wait, show me to the main transmission logs." Said the Doctor.

"Doctor." Said Nadine.

"Whatever it is, it can wait."

"She wants you."

"Doctor?" Said the controller. "Where's the Doctor? Are you there?" She suddenly seemed so much more human, and much less babbly with the station on minimal power.

The Doctor hurried up to her. "I'm here."

"I can't see. Blind. All my life, blind. All I see is numbers. But I see you Doctor. Hiding me. Solar flare hiding me. My masters can't hear me. Sun so bright. Hides me from my masters."  
"Who are your masters?"

"In my head, the name's forbidden. They control my thoughts. I had to be careful. They monitor transmissions. But they do not monitor the games. I could hide you in them. Keep an eye on you."

"My friend died in those games!"

"Doesn't matter."

"Don't say that!"

"My masters, they hide in the dark space, guiding humanity."

"Who are they?"

"Hundreds of years, they have been there, shaping humanity. Growing in numbers. Watching, planning."

"Tell me! Who are they?"

"They speak of you! My masters, they fear the Doctor. They..." She gasped as the floor powered back up around her. "Staff are requested to return to their stations, following the passing of the solar flare."

"When's the next solar flare?" Cried the Doctor.

"Two years time." Said Davitch.

"Fat lot of good that is."

Jack emerged from the archives. "I've found the TARDIS."  
"We're not leaving." Said the Doctor.

"No, but the TARDIS worked it out. You're gonna wanna see this." He took a seat at the nearest control panel. "Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?"

"I, I just wanna go home." Said Lynda, who'd kept very quiet throughout this whole standoff. She was feeling all kinds of out of her depth now.

"It'll only take a second." He grinned. "Go and stand over there."

Lynda did as instructed.

"Everybody watching?" Said Jack. "Three, two, one." He pressed a button. A bright red beam shot down from the ceiling and Lynda vanished to dust.

The Doctor blinked several times. Hardly daring to believe what had just happened. "But you killed her."

"Do you think?" Jack grinned. He pressed some more buttons and Lynda abruptly appeared next to the Doctor, looking shaken.

"It's not a disintegration beam, it's a secondary transmat." Jack explained. "Doctor, people don't die in the games, they get transported somewhere else! Rose is still alive!"

The Doctor could find no words to express his delight. He just laughed and hugged the captain.

* * *

For the second time that day, Rose was pulling herself up off the floor, her head spinning. Feeling the same as she felt when she'd woken up in The Weakest Link made it easier to sus what had happened to her.

Besides, there weren't any afterlives in any religions she knew that resembled this. She was in a long metallic chamber, with a series of arches making up the roof. A group of pods lined each wall. A background hum told her she was in another spaceship. But whereas every other spaceship she'd visited had at least tried to be aesthetically pleasing. There was none of that here. Everything was cold and functional. The wals wrn't even painted, just bare metal.

As her vision cleared, Rose spotted a figure approaching. Seeing what it was, she suddenly thought she may be have died and gone to hell after all. "No, it can't be. I saw you die!"

* * *

"She's out there somewhere!" The Doctor cried, hurrying over to the nearest terminal and hurriedly scouring the logs.

"But what about the dust?" Said Lynda, pointing to the dust that was just settling where she'd just been standing. If she hadn't been disintegrated, where had it come from?

"There are billions of particles to convert to energy." Said Jack. "Some of them get left behind. It's why you're so disorientated afterwards."

The Doctor thumped the computer panel. "Come on! It's hiding somewhere!"

"Doctor." Gasped the controller. "Coordinates five point six point one..."

"Don't, the solar flare's gone. They'll hear you."

"Point four three four." She continued unabated. "No, my masters, no! I defy you! Sigma seven seven." She screamed suddenly, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Her masters had taken her.

* * *

It was like the first breath of life as the controller woke up. A freedom like she'd never felt before in her life. Even as her masters moved in to put her life to an end, she could only smile. "Oh my masters. You can kill me, for I have brought your destruction!"

They wasted no time in killing her.

* * *

The situation in the control room was a lot calmer now. Davitch and Nadine had sent the guards away and were now happily working with the Doctor.

"I think the final numbers should be on there." Said Davitch. "I've been keeping a log of unscheduled transmat activity."

"Nice." Jack grinned suggestively. "Jack Harkness by the way."

"Jack, there's a time and a place for flirting." Said the Doctor.

"So, you're saying someone's been controlling this place from behind the scenes?" Nadine promptly brought the conversation back on track.

"Not just Game Station. They were manipulating the Jagrafess back when this was Satellite 5. Someone's been controlling the human race for generations.

"Have a look at this." Said Jack. He brought up an image of what appeared to be empty space. "That's where they're being transmatted to. Right on the edge of the solar system. But there's nothing there."

"It looks like nothing. Because that's what this satellite does. Right underneath the game shows, there's another signal transmitting. Hiding whatever's out there from RADAR, Scanner, PULSER, anything that might be used to detect it. If I cancel that signal..."

The moment he did so, the image of a flying saucer blinked into existence on the screen. A shape the Doctor had prayed to any gods that might be listening that he'd never had to see again. Copper coloured, with a series of half globes round its rim. As the image zoomed out, he saw 199 smaller ships arrayed around it in alert formation.

"Doctor." Said Jack. "I know those ships. But that's impossible. They were killed."

"Obviously, they survived." Said the Doctor.

"What are they?" Said Davitch.

"200 ships. More than 2000 on each one. A lot more on the flagship. That's almost half a million of them."

"Half a million what?" Said Lynda. "What are they?"

"Daleks."

* * *

The Dalek that had found Rose led her into a massive rectangular chamber, the size of a small aircraft hangar. The far wall was open. Inside, six more Daleks were operating the ship's systems.

"ALERT ALERT, WE ARE DETECTED!" Said one of the Daleks.

"OPEN COMUNICATIONS CHANNEL." Said another. "THE FEMALE WILL STEP FORWARD. STEP FORWARD."

Rose did as they said, stepping into an even larger chamber, where a walkway ran around a massive cylindrical hole, which seemed to lead right the way down to the base of the ship. A massive holo-screen appeared in the space in the centre, displaying the Doctor and the others on Game Station.

"I WILL SPEAK TO THE DOCTOR." Said the Dalek.

"Oh will you? Hello." He said nonchalantly.

"THE DALEK STRATEGEM NEARS COMPLETION. YOU WILL NOT INTERVENE."

"Oh? Why's that then?"

"WE HAVE YOUR ASSOSIATE. YOU WILL OBEY OR SHE WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"No." Said the Doctor.

Everyone stared at him in surprise, temporarily lost for words. Even the Daleks were silent for a few moments.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELF." They said at last.

"No."

"WHAT DOES THIS NEGATIVE MEAN?"  
"It means no."

"BUT SHE WILL BE DESTROYED."

"No. 'cos here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna save Rose Tyler. I'm gonna rescue her from the middle of a Dalek fleet. And then I'm gonna save the Earth. And then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky."

"BUT YOU HAVE NO WEAPONS. NO DEFENSES. NO PLAN."

"Yeah. And doesn't that just scare you to death?" He grinned. "Rose?"

"Yeah Doctor?" She said.

"I'm coming to get you." He soniced out. Rose had no doubt that he would come.

"THE DOCTOR IS INITIATING HOSTILE ACTION." Shouted a Dalek.

"THE STRATERGEM MUST ADVANCE. PREPARE THE INVASION OF EARTH. THE DOCTOR MUST BE EXTERMINATED!"

Huge doors at the back of the hangar slid open, revealing 20 or so Daleks in a row. As they moved forward, Rose saw that there were more in line behind. And more behind them. Line after line of Daleks glided past her in perfect formation. Around the circular chamber, six more such hangers produced an equally alarming mass of Daleks. Looking down the hole, Rose saw 50 more floors. Thousands of Daleks on each of them swarming forward into battle stations, perfectly manoeuvring around each other as though they were one entity. An unstoppable army, bred to be the universe's ultimate war machine.


	5. The Psychotic god

**The Parting of the Ways**

**Chapter 5: The Psychotic god**

A Dalek had Rose backed up in a corner, it's plunger threateningly raised an inch from her face. "YOU ARE AN ASSOSIATE OF THE DOCTOR'S. YOU KNOW HIS WAYS. PREDICT HIS ACTIONS!"

"I don't know!" Shouted Rose.

"PREDICT! PREDICT! PREDICT!" It moved the plunger a centimetre closer. Having seen a Dalek suck a man's face off, Rose was hoping the Doctor would do whatever it was he was planning quickly.

"And if I did, I wouldn't tell ya!" She shouted, as a means of stalling.

"TARDIS DETECTED IN FLIGHT." Said another Dalek.

"LAUNCH MISSILES." Said a third.

"No!" Shouted Rose. "He doesn't have any shields, you're gonna kill him!" Cried Rose.

"YOU HAVE PREDICTED CORRECTLY." Said her guard.

* * *

The TARDIS was busy circling the Dalek flagship, while the Doctor tried to lock coordinates.

"We've got incoming!" Shouted Jack.

Two antimatter missiles screamed towards the TARDIS, exploding on impact, with a blast as powerful as Krakatoa. A blast the TARDIS just sailed through.

"The extrapolater's working." Said Jack, looking at the series of cables connecting it to the console. "And we've got ourselves a force field."

"And for my next trick." The Doctor grinned.

* * *

The sound of materialisation filled the ship. Rose and the Dalek that was guarding her looked around for where it was coming from, until they realised that it was right where they were standing. Slowly, the console room came into view around them.

"Rose, get down!" Shouted the Doctor. "Get down Rose!"

Rose did as instructed, as the Dalek slowly became aware of its surroundings and spun itself round to aim at the Doctor.

"EXTERMIN..." But it was cut off by Jack blasting it with his defabricater, smashing its casing to pieces.

"You did it!" Rose ran up and hugged the Doctor. "Feels like I haven't seen you in years."

"Told you I'd come and get you." He grinned.

"Never doubted it."

"I did. You alright?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Been better." He said, as he went to the console.

Jack was watching with a look of disappointment. "Don't I get a hug?"

"Sorry." Said Rose, and held her arms out.

"I was talking to him." Jack grinned, but hugged her anyway. "Welcome home."

"Thought I'd never see you." She smiled.

"You were lucky." He gestured to the gun he'd discarded on the floor. "Bit of a one hit wonder. Drained the gun of its power supply. Useless now."

The Doctor hit some controlled and the engines powered up.

"We off now?" Said Rose.

"We're going to the main chamber." Said the Doctor. "Find out what we can about them." He strolled over to the one Jack had wrecked. The mutant lay sprawled within the wreckage. This one had two eyes instead of just the one.

Behind him, his companions had questions. "You said they were extinct." Said Rose. "How come they're here?

"One minute, they were the greatest threat to the universe. The next, they vanish out of time and space. How?" Said Jack.

"They went off to fight a bigger war. The time war." The Doctor said. They noticed a sound of dissent in his voice.

Jack's eyes widened. "I thought that was just a legend!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I was there. The war between the Daleks and the time lords. With the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing."

Rose glanced at the door. "There's thousands of them now. We could barely stop one. What are we gonna do?"

The Doctor was silent for a moment. He forcibly brightened his look. "No point standing around chin wagging. Human beings, all you do is gossip. The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbours."

"You can't go out there!" Cried Rose, as he made his way to the door.

He ignored her and stepped out into a massive chamber, the size of Saint Pauls. Daleks stretched in neat ranks, all the way to the walls. Thirty or so of them were arrayed in a ring around the TARDIS.

"EXTERMINATE!" They each screamed the moment the Doctor came into view. They fired a volley at hi but the shots dissipated about ten feet from where he was standing.

The Doctor grinned "Is that it? Nul points." He turned to the others. "Alright, you can come out now. The force field can stop anything."

"Almost anything." Said Jack.

"I wasn't gonna tell them that. Thanks." He walked up to the edge of the force field and walked along the crescent of Daleks a foot away, staring each down the eyestalk. "Do you know what they called me back on the Dalek homeworld? The oncoming storm. You might have removed all your emotions, but I reackon deep down there's still one little spark left. And that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me, how did you survive the Time War?"

"THEY SURVIVED THROUGH ME." Boomed a new, deeper Dalek voice from across the hall. The Doctor turned, and was faced with a massive Dalek casing, as high as a three story house. The skirts were projected away from the body, supporting the dome and the grating like enormous spider legs. Below the dome, in a large glass case, hung a mutant, much larger than any they'd seen before.

"Rose. Captain. Meet the emperor of the Daleks." Said the Doctor.

"YOU DESTROYED US DOCTOR." Shouted the emperor. "BUT MY SHIP SURVIVED YOUR INFERNO. CRIPPLED BUT ALIVE."

"I get it."

The Daleks surrounding the Doctor began to chant, "DO NOT INTERRUPT! DO NOT INTERRUPT! DO NOT INTERRUPT!"

The Doctor turned away from the emperor to stare down its subjects again. "I think you're forgetting something. I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I know how to do it's talk. I've got 5 billion languages and you've not got one way of stopping me. So, if anyone's gonna shut up, it's YOU!" He turned back to the emperor. "So, where were we?"

We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured.

"WE WAITED HERE IN THE DARK SPACE, DAMAGED BUT REBUILDING. CENTURIES PASSED AND WE QUIETLY INFILTRATED THE SYESTEMS OF EARTH, HARVESTING THE WASTE OF HUMANITY. THE PRISONERS, THE REFUGEES, THE DISPOSESSED, THEY ALL CAME TO US. THE BODIES WERE FILTERED,L PULPED AND SIFTED. THE HUMAN RACE IS PERVERTED. ONLY ONE CELL IN A BILLION WAS FIT TO BE NURTURED."

The Doctor, already pale, went paler. "You created an army of Daleks out of the dead."

"So that makes them... half human." Said Rose.

"THOSE WORDS ARE BLASPHAMY!" Boomed the emperor.

"DO NOT BLASPHEME!" Chanted several Daleks. "DO NOT BLASPHEME! DO NOT BLASPHEME!"

"EVERYTHING HUMAN HAD BEEN PURGED." Said the emperor. "I HAVE CULTIVATED PURE DALEK."

The Doctor was struck with a lot of alarming questions at this point. He decided to address the smallest first. "Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?"

"I REACHED INTO THE DIRT AND CREATED LIFE. I AM THE GOD OF ALL DALEKS."

"WORSHIP HIM. WORSHIP HIM. WORSHIP HIM." The entire crowd chorused.

"They're insane!" The Doctor looked round the sea of Daleks. "Hiding out in the dark for hundreds of years would make anyone insane. But no! It's worse than that. You're disgusted by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your existence. That makes them more deadly than ever." He turned back to the emperor. "We're going."

"YOU MAY NOT LEAVE!" Boomed the emperor.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Shouted the crowd. But the Doctor ignored them and strolled cheerily into the TARDIS. Giving them a cheeky smile as he went.

The moment he'd shut the door, however, he pressed his face to the woodwork, hoping that his companions would be too distracted by the view on the TAERDIS scanner and wouldn't notice the look of hopelessness on his face. All bluster and cockiness aside, he knew there was a good chance they were screwed.

* * *

They returned to the control room on the Game Station to find it almost deserted. Three figures were sat by the control panel at the far end.

"Turn all transmissions up to full power, every frequency, now. Do it!" The Doctor instructed them.

"What does this do?" Said Davitch.

"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board." As Davitch and Nadine hurriedly began hitting buttons, he realised who the thir figure was. "Lynda, what are you still doing here? I told you to evacuate everybody!"

"I couldn't leave you." Lynda said sheepishly.

"There aren't enough shuttles anyway." Said Davitch. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here." There's about 100 people stranded on floor 1."

* * *

Down on floor 1, the handful of remaining guards were facing a nightmarish situation. Stranded contestants were repeatedly demanding to know what was going on, and saying things like "I'm as confused as you are." and "No, the higher ups have gone too." Wouldn't deter them.

It didn't help that one of the contestants, Roderick was his name, had chosen this moment to demand his winnings and was repeatedly trying to rally the others behind him in a protest. They were glad to see that none of the other stranded people were interested in joining him.

* * *

"Did you contact Earth?" Said the Doctor.

"We did. They just took away our licence because we'd stopped programming." Davitch shrugged.

"So the whole planet Earth is defenceless."

A beeping caught Davitch's attention. "Fleet on its way!"

The Doctor was abruptly spurred into action. He hurried over to the nearest access panel and began yanking out parts and bundles of cables. "Dalek plan, big mistake! 'cos what've they left me with?" He paused but no one responded. "A great big transmitter, capable of extreme power. And what can I do with a transmitter like that? Anyone?"

"You've gota be kidding me." Said Jack.

"Give the man a medal! A delta wave!"

"What's a delta wave?" Said Rose.

"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy." Jack explained. "It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a delta wave and your head explodes."

"With a station like this, I could create a wave powerful enough to destroy them all. Trouble is, a wave that size, station like this, brain as big as mine, should take about... three days. How long 'till the fleet gets here?"

"32 minutes." Said Davitch.

* * *

The Doctor was working like a madman. In the meentime, he'd put Jack in charge of stalling the Daleks. He'd spent 15 minutes or so hardwiring the extrapolater into the main computer.

He pointed to a virtual model of The Game Station. A huge, pale red bubble extended all around the station, with a smaller bubble surrounding the top end. "The main force field means the Daleks can't just blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop them from boarding. I've concentrated a second forcefield around the top 6 floors so they'll have to enter below floor 494. They have to get to 500 to stop the Doctor, so they'll fight their way up."

"Do they know about the delta wave?" Said Davitch.

"They'll have worked it out at the same time."

"Who will they be fighting?" Said Nadine.

"Us."

"Fighting with what?"

"The guards had bastic bullets in their guns. That should blow the casing wide open."

"But there's only 5 of us."

"Rose, could you give me a hand, I need you to strip all these wires." Said the Doctor.

"Ok, now there's 4 of us."

"Then we need to get more." Said Jack. "And we need to get moving. Get to the lift. And isolate the lift controls."

As they rushed off, Lynda went up to the Doctor, knowing this would probably be the last chance she could speak to him if things went awry. But somehow, she didn't know what to say in these circumstances "I just want to say, thanks I guess. And I'll do my best."

"Me too." The Doctor smiled. He hesitated awkwardly, not sure if he was supposed to kiss her goodbye at this point. Finally, he just shook her hand instead. Rose tried not to look jealous at this point.

Jack had also come to wish the Doctor luck. "It's been fun. But I guess this is goodbye."

"Don't say that. The Doctor will sort this out." Said Rose.

Jack grinned. "You are worth fighting for." And he gave her a goodbye kiss, on the lips. He then turned to the Doctor. "I wish I'd never met you Doctor. I was better off as a coward." He kissed him on the lips too. "See you in hell." And with that, he went off to battle stations.

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Said Rose.

* * *

On the Dalek flagship, the commander Daleks were preparing their own battle strategies. Whereas the humans were desperately scraping together all their resources, this was standard routine to the Daleks. The Game Station was just annother ship in need of being swept asside.

"PURIFY THE EARTH WITH FIRE." Boomed the Dalek emperor. "THE PLANET WILL BE MY TEMPLE. AND WE SHALL RISE. THIS WILL BE OUR PARADISE!"


	6. The No Win Scenario

**Chapter 6: The No Win Scenario:**

When Jack had stood up on a platform in the middle of Floor 1, the first thought that had gone through everyone's head was _Finally, someone to tell arrange transport_. It was a belief that they'd clung to, even as he explained the situation to them. He'd explained that he'd needed volunteers to hold off the Daleks and that the fate of the world could depend on them. They'd kept interrupting with questions like "But when do we get evacuated?"

Though the few remaining guards and a dozen or so civilians had stepped forward, the rest were forming into an angry mob, accusing him of lying to them.

Jack looked at his watch. The Daleks would be there in ten minutes. He'd have to go back upstairs in the next minute or so if he was to prepare any kind of defence. He fired his machine gun up in the air to silence the mob. "One last time! Any more volunteers?"

The crowd gave him a variety of looks, each to the effect of "Not me."

"An army is about to attack this station, and I need every citizen to mount a defence. Now is anyone with me?"

"Don't listen to him!" Roderick stepped up to address the crowd himself. "There are no Daleks! They were wiped out centuries ago!"

Almost as if to spite him, the floor manager from The Weakest Link, Vera was her name, stepped forward to join Jack's meagre army.

"Thanks." Jack said to her, then turned to address the crowd. "Now, they'll break in somewhere between us and you. Chances are, they'll go up. But they may not. So my advice is _keep quiet_. And if you hear the sounds of battle up above. If you hear us dying. You'll see if the Daleks are real or not.

He and the troops left behind a crowd that had suddenly been stunned silent, watching them going up in the lift.

* * *

Rose idly stripped the coating off the bundle of cables the Doctor had handed her, pondering something in her mind. "Suppose... No, forget it."

"Suppose what?" Said the Doctor.

"Well, I was just wondering... Obviously you can't, but... You've got a time machine. Couldn't you just go back to last week and warn them?"

"No." Said the Doctor, not looking up from his work. "Once the TARDIS lands, we become part of events. We're stuck here."

"Yeah, thought it would be something like that."

"There's something else we could do with the TARDIS. We could just leave. Let history take its course. We go to Mabella in 1987."

She smiled. "Yeah, but you'd never do that."

"You could ask. Never even occurred to you, did it?"

"No. Guess I'm just too good." It made no sense to simply turn your back and run when people were going to die.

The Doctor plugged in another connector and heard a reassuring hum. "The delta wave's starting to build! How long will it take?" He rushed over to the nearest console to check, and immediately went pale, bowing his head for a moment.

"Is that bad?" Said Rose. "Ok, it's bad, isn't it? How bad?"

The Doctor suddenly looked up at her, an ecstatic look on his face. "Rose, you're a genius! Use the TARDIS to cross my own timeline! Yes!" He raced over to the TARDIS in the corner, with his companion hurrying behind. Once in, he gestured to a button on the console. "Hold that down and keep it down."

"What does that do?"

"Cancels the buffers. If I'm very clever, and I am, I might just save the world... or rip it apart."

"I'd go for the first one." She grinned.

"Good. Now, stay there, I just need to power up the Game Station."

He rushed out the door and across the room. Once he was out of earshot, however, he dropped his excited pretence. He pulled his sonic from his pocket and extended the end. With a sigh, he waved it over the TARDIS, until he heard a bump from the starting engines.

"Doctor?" Shouted Rose. "Should I take my hand off? It's moving!" When no response came, she shouted, "Doctor, should this be happening?" But the Doctor still didn't respond.

Rose took her hand off the button, but the engines continued to grind. Suddenly seized by panic, she ran over to the doors but found them locked. "Let me out!" She hammered on them. "What have you done!"

The Doctor watched in resignation as his TARDIS finished dematerialising. Time to face his fate.

* * *

Though she could tell she was currently hurtling through the vortex, Rose continued to hammer on the door. She only stopped when a hologram blinked into life behind her.

"This is Emergency Programme One. Rose, now listen, this is important." Said an image of the Doctor. "If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape."

"No!" She cried.

And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."

"I won't let you." She stepped up to stand next to him at the console. The holo-Doctor just stared blankly straight ahead.

"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing." He turned to face the spot he must have known she'd be standing when he made this recording. "Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."

Rose just gaped for a few moments. The Doctor was marching to his death and now he was sending her away to be safe, like some damsel in distress, who needs to be protected.

"You're not gonna do this to me!" She shouted. "Take me back!" She grabbed at the nearest crank handle on the console and spun it round furiously, in the vain hope that that might make it do what she wanted. When the TARDIS abruptly came to a halt, she had a blind hope that she might have succeeded. She ran out the door, only to be met by the familiar tower blocks of the Powel Estate.

Rose hurried back in and shouted at the console. "How do you fly? Come on, help me!" She tried to mimic the sequence of levers the Doctor would pull when he dematerialised, but only succeeded in turning the air conditioning on.

She went to another panel and had another go. This time an angry collection of mauve lights lit up and she decided against further attempts.

She kicked the console in frustration and stormed outside, to sit slumped against the doors.

"I knew it!" She heard a voice she'd never expected to hear again. Mickey was hurrying down the street towards her. "I was all the way down Clifton Parade. I heard the engines. I thought nothing else makes a sound like that!" He noticed that she was crying. "What is it?"

Rose just sobbed harder. Mickey instinctively pulled her in for a hug.

* * *

198,095 years in the future, Jack was busy pooling together every defence the station had to offer. He spoke to the main control room on his communicator. "Rose, I've punched up the internal laser codes, there should be a string of numbers. Can you read them out to me?"

"Rose isn't here." Said the Doctor.

"Fine time to take a leak. When she gets back, could you ask her to read me those codes?"

"She's not coming back."

"Why not?"

"Never mind!"

"You took her home, didn't you?" If the Doctor wanted Rose out of the way that badly, it must mean the situation was even worse than he'd thought. "Doctor, how much chance is there of the delta wave being ready in time?"

"A good chance." He said vaguely.

"TELL HIM THE TRUTH, DOCTOR." The Dalek emperor's voice boomed throughout the control room and Jack's communicator. The Doctor wasn't sure how long it had been listening in. "THERE IS EVERY CHANCE THE DELTA WAVE CAN BE COMPLETED. BUT NO CHANCE THAT IT CAN BE REFINED. THE WAVE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH. IT WILL MAKE NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN HUMAN AND DALEK. ALL THINGS WILL DIE BY YOUR HAND."

Jack paled. Whether they could stop the Daleks or not, they were all going to die. But it was worse than that. "Doctor, this station's range covers the whole Earth."

"YOU WOULD DESTROY HUMANS AND DALEKS TOGETHER. IF I AM GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, TELL ME DOCTOR, WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU?"

"There are colonies out there!" He shouted at the emperor's image on the view screen. "The human race would survive in some shape or form. But you're the only Daleks in the universe. Every planet's at stake if I let you live. That's the choice I have to make for everybody. Die as a human or live as a Dalek. Which would you prefer, Jack?"

"Doctor." Said Jack. "She's safe now. Finish the delta wave."

"BUT HE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU!"

"Never doubted him. Never will." He grinned. He'd come a long way since the Doctor had shown him what it was like to be willing to die for a cause. He was happy to be doing it now.

The Doctor grinned, glad to have at least one person at his back. "Now tell me, god of all Daleks. There's one thing I never worked out. The words "Bad Wolf." Scattered throughout time and space, drawing me in. How did you manage that?"

"I DID NOTHING."

"Oh, come on your worship. There's no secrets now."

"THE WORDS ARE NOT OF MY DESIGN. THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD."

The Doctor paled as he realised the emperor was telling the truth. Someone else was manipulating him. Even more powerful than the Daleks. And he wouldn't live long enough to find out whom.

* * *

Rose sat in a greasy spoon cafe, watching the roast chickens spinning endlessly round and round on the rotisserie. She'd been back for two days now and she was still having trouble thinking of it as home. She was trapped in a world of blandness. Watching all these people, unhappy for most of the time, caught in an endless cycle of work and sleep, but drifting through life anyway, knowing there was nothing they could do about it. The Doctor had sent her here to survive, he hadn't considered whether she would live.

"And it's gone up market, this place." Her mother was saying. "They're doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It's not very nice. It tastes a bit, sort of, clinical."

"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" Said Mickey.

"What's it selling?"

"Pizza."

Ask a stupid question. "That's nice. Do they deliver?"

"Yeah."

Jackie looked across at her daughter, who'd barely touched her food. It was obvious to everyone who saw her that she was there in body but not in spirit. "Please eat something Rose."

"200,000 years in the future, he's dying and there's nothing I can do." Said Rose.

"Well, like you said, 200,000 years, that's way off." Jackie smiled.

"But it's not! It's right now. That fight is happening right now! He's fighting for all of us and I'm just sitting here eating chips!"

"Now listen to me! I may have hated that man in the past, but right now I bloody love him. Do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me."

"But what do I do every day mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, eat chips, watch the telly, go to bed."

"It's what the rest of us do." Said Mickey.

"But I can't!"

"What, because you're better than us?"

"No, I didn't mean that. But it was. It was a better life." She thought hard about how to explain it. "And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know, he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't!" She kicked the table away in frustration and ran from the cafe.

* * *

Rose wasn't to know it, but in the far future, the Doctor had also inspired Lynda to take a stand and try to make a difference. When Jack had offered her a gun and she'd explained that she had no idea how to fire one, she'd been more afraid of being sent to join the people down on Floor 1, than of going into battle with Daleks.

Fortunately, Jack had been quick to find another roll for her. He led her over to an observation platform on floor 499 and showed her a console there.

"Ok, Lynda. I need you to be my eyes and ears. You can monitor the Daleks' movements throughout the station on this and relay the information to me."

"Understood." She nodded.

"They'll detect you but the door's made of hydra combination. It should keep them out."

"Should?"

"It's the best I can do." He touched his finger to his earpiece. "How long till the fleet arrives?"

"They're just arriving." Said Davitch's voice.

"This is it ladies and gentlemen, we're at war!" Declared Jack.

Lynda didn't need the tracking systems to see what was happening next. Through the Plexiglas screen, she saw a whole battle fleet coming into view. The smaller ships broke off from the maid column and manoeuvred towards strategic positions above Earth. The massive flagship, meanwhile came straight for them. It fired a few experimental shots at the station, which their shields easily absorbed.

The Daleks immediately went to their contingency plan and opened up the main doors on several points in the ship. Wave after wave of Daleks spilled out, flying across the 2 kilometres between the two ships in a never ending stream.

"You guys take the 10,000 on the left." Jack grinned. "I'll take the 10,000 on the right."

* * *

**Author's Notes: I think it's implied that Rose's and the Doctor's timelines are running on San Dimas time (as TV Tropes refers to it.) Hence, "That fight is happening right now." Since it would take the Doctor two days to build the delta wave, Rose must have been at home for two days. I may be wrong.**


	7. The Attack

**Chapter 7: The Attack**

Mickey found Rose slumped on one of the more intact benches by the playground in Colfer Park. He decided to try talking again. "I'm sorry you're stranded here. But there's nothing we can do. You can't just spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor. You've got to start living your life here. Ya know. The sort of life he could never have. The sort you could have with me..."

But Rose wasn't listening. She was staring at something she'd spotted on the tarmac ahead of her. Mid sentence, she leapt up and ran over to have a closer look. The massive words _Bad Wolf_, which someone had painted across the playground, using the centre spot of the concrete football pitch as the O.

"It's over here as well!" She shouted, looking at the brick wall opposite, where several more graffiti artists had scribbled the same two words all over it.

"That's just words." Said Mickey. "It's been there for years."

"No. It's a message! Bad wolf here, bad wolf there!"

"Telling you what?"

"I thought it was a warning, telling me to back off. But what if it's the opposite, telling me I can get back!" She ran for the street she'd left the TARDIS in.

* * *

Up in the control room, the Doctor was doing his best to think methodically. About which cable to plug in where, what containment would most safely stop the beam going off early, what methods he could use to make it power up faster. This was just another project he was doing. Not a massive doom weapon he was forcing himself to build.

* * *

Jack had placed people strategically throughout the top 6 floors. Up on floor 499, he was busy organising the construction of the final barricade. "Stand your ground everyone." He said. "Remember that you're fighting for your lives." He hadn't the heart to tell them that this was effectively a suicide mission.

Lynda's voice spoke up in his ear. "You were right. They're forcing the airlock on floor 494." Seconds later, a low rumble echoed throughout the ship as the Daleks blasted their way in. Fortunately, the oxygen membranes were capable of dealing with damage such as that. Jack had made sure to hardwire the air systems through the main control room so the Daleks couldn't suck all the air out until they'd killed everyone on the ship.

Down on floor 1, the bystanders heard the noise and began to think that Jack may have been telling the truth.

* * *

"All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip." Rose grinned. "Just... reverse."

"Yeah... but we don't know how." Said Mickey.

"Ah, but the TARDIS is telepathic. It listens."

"Not listening now, is it?"

"We need to get inside it." Rose explained. "Last time you were here. With the Slitheen. The TARDIS opened and there was this big white light. The Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, look inside it. I can make contact. Tell it what to do."

Mickey sighed. "Rose, you do realise that if you do this, you're gonna die."

"That's a risk I'm gonna have to take. 'cos there's nothing left for me here any more."

Mickey pondered this for a moment. "Ya know, things didn't work out for me and Tricia."

Rose understood the implication. "I couldn't. Not after everything we... Everything that happened. Doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"That would be good." Mickey smiled. "Well... If that's how you feel, let's get this thing open."

* * *

Vera wasn't sure how she'd ended up in command. Her military experience consisted of a couple of day trips to the shooting range and several evenings playing Sontaran Total War. The others just seemed to be taking orders from her since she was the most senior staff member in the dozen or so Jack had deployed to hold the first real bottleneck the Daleks would have to get through.

"They're just approaching the corner now." Said Lynda.

"Standby to activate internal lasers." Said Jack. "Slice 'em up!"

Vera held her had a centimetre over the pad. The moment the first Dalek glided into view, she slapped her hand down. Nothing happened. She slapped it several more times but nothing continued to happen.

"The defence systems are offline!" Cried Lynda. "The Daleks have overridden the lot."

Vera swore loudly and shouldered her gun. She and the defenders around her let loose on the Dalek as it approached, along with the two more gliding up alongside it. But everything they fired seemed to slow and stop before it could get anywhere near the casing. The Daleks had returned from the time war much tougher than when they'd left and firing bullets on them was like firing through treacle.

"You lied to me!" Vera screamed down the radio. "The guns don't work!" That was the last thing she said before the Daleks finished getting into formation and fired, exterminating her and the two on either side of her.

The rest of the group broke and ran, but the Daleks fired after the retreating humans, while gliding steadily forward. The defenders wouldn't get far.

Watching the life readouts rapidly blinking out, Lynda began to think that her media studies skills had run their usefulness in this fight.

* * *

A swing had fallen down in Colfer park so Rose and Mickey had borrowed one of the chains, lashed one end to the console and the other to the tow bar on Mickey's Mini.

He put the car into gear and drove forward. The moment the chain reached its full length, the car stopped dead.

"Come on!" Rose shouted. Mickey put his foot down flat but that just spun the tyres. He paused for a moment and tried pulling off again but the engine stalled. He restarted in reverse and drove back a couple of feet and tried charging forwards. Once the chain went taunt the front wheels lifted up. He was momentarily certain that the car was about to flip over backwards. Once back on four wheels, he resumed putting his foot down and spinning the tyres. There was an unbelievable cloud of tyre smoke surrounding the car by this point.

Rose, meanwhile was watching the console and the chain. The former barely twitched as Mickey pulled. The latter she could see straining in several rusty links. She saw a neck beginning to form in the middle of one link in particular and just had time to duck behind a pillar before the chain snapped.

Jackie looked on and sighed.

* * *

Jack fiddled with some more settings on the computer, trying to reactivate as many defences as possible, as well as adjusting them to account for the lessons learnt in their first engagement. In the meantime, he got on the radio to Lynda. "How're we doing?"

"The advance guard's reached floor 495." She replied.

"495 should be good." Jack grinned. "I like 495."

* * *

The advance guard manoeuvred through the main door, sweeping the room with their eyestalks as they did so, in case of traps. They spotted a lone figure in the chamber ahead.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF." They demanded.

"You are the weakest link," said the Ann Droid, "goodbye." She fired three shots, transmatting the advance guard to the middle of the sun.

Back on floor 499, Jack leapt for joy.

Another Dalek entered the chamber.

The Ann Droid spun round to face it. "You are the weakest link," the Dalek shot her head off before she could finish. The head just had time to say "goodbye."

"PROCEED TO NEXT LEVEL." Said the Dalek.

* * *

Lynda watched as the Daleks advanced steadily forward. "They're flying up the ventilation shafts." She told Jack. "No wait, they're flying down. Why would they do that?" She went pale as she realised what they were doing.

* * *

The crowd on floor 1 heard a soft whirring as the Daleks approached, but thought nothing of it. They'd been hearing odd bangs and creaks for several hours now. The first they saw of the Daleks was the moment every doorway and maintenance shaft around the hall slid open, revealing a Dalek behind each. They got up to run but there was nowhere to run to. All they could do was back against the main airlock, screaming, as these creatures that shouldn't exist outside of nightmares closed in.

"EXTERMINATE!" They shouted in unison, advancing forward as another. Dalek dropped down to floor level behind each of them.

"You can't!" Roderick pleaded.

"EXTERMINATE!"

"You don't exist!"

"EXTERMINATE!"

"It's not fair!"

"EXTERMINATE!"

"I won the game!"

"EXTERMINATE!"

"I'm a winner, I should be rich!"

"EXTERMINATE!"

Unwilling just to abandon the civilians, Lynda forced herself to keep the transmission as the Daleks gunned down the crowd on floor 1. Finally, she realised that she wouldn't be able to help by listening in and switched it off. "Floor 1." She said to Jack." They killed them all.

* * *

"It was never gonna work." Said Jackie. "The Doctor knew that. He sent you back here to keep safe."

Rose was slumped in the captain's chair in the console room. "I can't just give up."

"Lock the door." Jackie insisted. "There's nothing you can do for the Doctor now."

"Dad wouldn't give up."

Jackie was shocked. "He's not here, is he. And if he were, he'd say the same thing. Tell ya to be safe."

"No he wouldn't." Rose sat up. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I can save the Doctor's life, try anything."

"Well we're never gonna know." Jackie sighed.

"Yeah we will. 'cos I met him."

Jackie went wide eyed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"On the day Dad died, there was a girl with him. A blond girl. She held his hand."

Jackie just stared at her.

"You saw her from a distance Mum." Rose sobbed. "You saw me! I was the one there for him."

"Stop it." Jackie said coldly.

"That's how good the Doctor is!"

"Stop it now!" Jackie shouted, and fled the TARDIS.

* * *

Taking a glance at the viewing ports, the Doctor realised that the whole fleet had moved out of deployment at once. "Lynda." He said. "What's happening on Earth?"

"The fleet's descending." She said. Through the window, she saw blasts and flashes penetrating through the cloud layer. She pulled up a map. "They're bombing whole continents." She watched in numbness as each flash distorted the coastlines below. "Europa. Pacifica. The New American alliance. Australasia's just... gone." She'd had friends in Australasia. She hoped they'd be alright.

* * *

The Dalek emperor looked down on the bombing and felt the tiniest spark of elation, as much as any Dalek was ever capable of. "PERFECTION. THE EARTH WILL BE PURIFIED."

* * *

The remaining defenders on the Game Station had hardly slept for two days. They'd been busy constructing the final barricade while trying one thing after another to slow the Daleks down. But none of the traps had caught more than a couple of Daleks. Some of the heavy security doors had held them for a few hours each. But they always found a way.

It was almost a relief when they heard Lynda announcing that the Daleks were a corridor away. Behind them was nothing but empty passageways. If they were to hold the Daleks, it would have to be here.

They'd built a barricade out of the walls of the holding cells and any heavy objects they could find, welded together. They hadn't even left a gate once it became clear that the people downstairs wouldn't be coming through. Jack had worked out that the weak point in the Daleks force field would be around their eyestalk. If they concentrated their fire there, they should be able to break through. They'd also set up their own force field, which would take a lot of firepower from the Daleks to break.

They took up their firing positions and waited.

"I'm only here because of you." Davitch said to Nadine. "I joined the programme because you were on it."

"Am I supposed to say, "when this is all over perhaps we can go for a drink?"" Said Nadine.

"It would be nice." He shrugged.

"Yeah, well tough." She said but winked at him anyway, in a way that said there might just be hope after all.

* * *

Rose was slumped on Mickey's car. Staring at the TARDIS in the same way someone might stare at a Where's Wally puzzle. "Maybe Mum's right. Maybe I should just leave it."

"No." Said Mickey. "I'm not having you give up. You just need something stronger than my car. Something bigger something... Like that!"

Rose looked where Mickey was staring. A massive yellow recovery truck was coming down the road. It pulled up and her mum stepped out.

"You've only got it till 6." Said Jackie. "So get on with it."

"Mum, where did you get that?" Said Rose.

"Rodriego. He owes me a favour, never mind what for. You were right about your dad. He was full of mad ideas and this is exactly what he would've done. So let's get it open."

* * *

The doors on the far side of the room opened up and Daleks began move out in single file.

"Open fire!" Roared Jack. They let loose with a hail of bullets, which were getting closer to the casing than anything they'd fired before. They could have taken out the eyestalk with a direct hit, but that wasn't easy to achieve when the Daleks were presenting a moving target.

The Daleks, swung to the right, then to the left, forming up into a proper formation, rapidly calculating the most efficient means of overcoming this latest obstacle.

"The bullets aren't working!" Shouted Davitch.

"Concentrate!" Jack roared back. "Eyestalk, 2 O' clock!"

The defenders continued to shoot. Finally a bullet struck the Dalek in the head, shattering the eyestalk. "MY VISION IS IMPARED! I CANNOT SEE!" It screamed.

"We did it!" Nadine laughed. But that was the last thing she ever did before she lit up in a flash of negative light, so intense that Davitch could see her skeleton illuminated briefly.

"NOOOOOOO!" He screamed. Ignoring Jack's objections. He leapt over the barricade and charged the Daleks, screaming. He didn't make it within three metres before they exterminated him.

* * *

Lynda's observation was drawn away from the barricade when she spotted a more immediate problem. "They've found me." She said into the radio.

"SMALL HUMAN FEMALE DETECTED." Said a voice on the far side of the door.

"You'll be alright Lynda." Said the Doctor. "That side of the station's reinforced against meteors.

"I hope so." She smiled. "You know what they say about Earth workmanship."

Looking back at the display screen, she saw the Daleks forming up in the same way she'd seen them break so many security doors before. The advance guard parted to allow through a Dalek with a much larger heat signature, which she presumed to be a blowtorch. Already, she could hear sizzling and flashing on the far side of the door.

What caused her to turn around next, she wasn't too sure. She just had a strange sixth sense of danger behind her. She turned around slowly and saw three Daleks rising up on the far side of the viewing window. She happened to know that viewing platforms tended to have no oxygen membraines. Instead, anyone on them would be evacuated behind the main impact wall whoever meteors were detected approaching. That wouldn't do her a lot of good now.

Though she couldn't hear it across the vacuum of space, Lynda saw the lead Dalek's ear lights flash four times in quick succession. It fired, smashing the window. She just had time to scream before the room depressurised.

The Doctor was stunned when he heard her scream over the still open channel. But then he supposed he should be relieved. It meant he wouldn't have to kill her.

* * *

The Daleks had blasted a hole in the barricade, large enough to move through.

By now, only Jack and a guard he couldn't remember the name of remained. They flattened themselves against the wall beside the breach, ready to shoot the first Dalek to come through.

The moment its eyestalk came into view, they unleashed a hail of bullets from two feet away, not only shattering the eyestalk, but finally breaching the armour in a few places.

But this only blocked the entrance for a few seconds before the Daleks behind blew the damaged one to pieces so as to clear the way. The guard Jack was with got hit by the shrapnel. The captain was only able to scurry away due to the first man's body shielding him. He took off down the corridors and took up a position leaning round the first corner.

"Doctor!" He roared. "I'm the last man standing. For God's sake, finish that wave and wipe them out!"

* * *

"FINISH THAT WAVE AND WIPE OUT HUMANITY." Boomed the Dalek emperor.

The Doctor did his best to ignore it as he made the final connections.

* * *

The Daleks were storming steadily forward now. Never slowing their advance as Jack retreated before them, firing all the way. Within minutes, he was on the last corridor before the main control room. "Doctor, you've got 20 seconds left! Maximum!" He shouted down the hall.

As the clip from his machine gun ran dry, he reached for another one but found them all gone. He flung his gun at the Daleks and drew his pistol, firing a series more desperate shots at them. Then it too ran dry. Jack just laughed. One way or another he had a couple of minutes left to live anyway.

"EXRERMINATE." Said a Dalek.

"I kinda figured that." He said, as they exterminated him.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I thought the events of Boom Town should really have been addressed in this episode. Especially when there's not a lot of Rose/Mickey stuff in series 2 anyway.**

**Apologies for my enforced absence from the internet. I've accidentaly moved into the only house in the country without a phone line.**


	8. The Bad Wolf

**Chapter 8: The Bad Wolf**

The massive tow truck was much heavier and more powerful than the Mini could ever have been. It also had much stronger chains for attaching to the console.

Rose stood by the panel and watched as Mickey revved forward. This time the panel was starting to twitch. "Keep going!" She shouted at him. Mickey roared and pushed his foot down harder, the engine roaring like thunder. Finally, the console swung open. As it did, the hook came loose and was whipped right out the door.

Rose stared straight into the light that flooded out. She felt the same indescribable connection she'd felt when she'd glanced at it before. But now it was rapidly swelling, not just through the TARDIS but through space to the streets, the cars and the animals around her. Through time to yesterday, tomorrow, last week. Rapidly spreading outwards in all dimensions. She could feel all the forces holding the universe together, every cell in her body... That was as much as she would remember before a her mind was absorbed completely.

"Rose!" Mickey shouted to her, running for the TARDIS. But the doors slammed in his and Jackie's faces as the engines started to sound. As usual, a rush of wind accompanied its departure but this was more fierce than usual, like they were standing in the path of a hurricane.

* * *

The device was ready. He was stood there with his hand on the lever. The smallest pressure of his hand, enough to depress it by an inch, and this whole war would be over. The universe would be safe. But at what cost?

Before he could act, the Daleks began to swarm into the control room from all sides. He stood over the lever so that he would fall on it if they tried to shoot him. But the Daleks didn't. Instead, they formed up around the edges of the room, facing inwards.

"You really wanna think about this." He said to them. "'cos if I throw this switch, every living thing dies."

"I AM IMORTAL." Boomed the emperor.

"Wanna put that to the test?"

"I WANT TO SEE YOU BECOME LIKE ME. ALL HAIL THE DOCTOR, THE GREAT EXTERMINATOR."

The Doctor pushed on the lever, forcing himself to believe that this was the only way to save the universe. But somehow, he just couldn't put enough pressure on the lever.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOCTOR? COWARD OR KILLER?"

He took his hand off the lever and stepped back. He just couldn't bring himself to destroy another world like this. "Coward. Any day."

"YOU ARE WEEK." Said the emperor. "MANKIND WILL BE HARVESTED BECAUSE OF YOUR WEAKNESS."

"And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?"

"YOU ARE THE HAETHEN. AND YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

He sighed. "Perhaps it's time." He closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable. His lives flashed before his eyes, of friends lost, worlds visited. Of the sound of the TARDIS carrying him endlessly across the universe...

"TARDIS MATERIALISATION DETECTED!" Shouted a Dalek.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Boomed the emperor.

The Doctor spun round, seeing something impossible beginning to appear in the corner. At the same time, most of the Daleks spun round to cover the TARDIS.

The doors opened and Rose was stood there. Except that it wasn't Rose. A dazzling white light shone all around her, shining from her hands, her eyes, even her hair.

The Doctor wasn't used to being on the back foot, baffled and frightened by something his companions were doing. "What've you done?" He cried.

"I looked into the TARDIS." She said airily. "And the TARDIS looked into me."

"You looked into the time vortex. No one's supposed to do that!"

"WHAT IS THIS ABOMINATION?" Roared the Dalek emperor.

"EXTERMINATE!" Shouted the nearest Dalek. It fired, but Rose's hand shot up and the beam stopped in mid air, before retreating back to the Dalek's gun.

"I am the Bad Wolf." She said. "I created myself. I take these words and scatter them in time and space." As she said this, she waved her hands over the Bad Wolf banner overhead. The letters lifted from their place and dissolved as they watched.

"My past self will see these words and know to lead myself here."

"Rose!" Said the Doctor. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head, you're gonna burn!"

"I must keep you safe." She said. "My Doctor. My precious Doctor. Protected from this false god."

"YOU CANNOT KILL ME! I AM IMORTAL!" Boomed the Dalek emperor.

"You are tiny. I can see all of time and space. Every atom of your existence. And I divide them." She held her hand up and the Dalek ahead of her scattered to dust. "Everything dies. All must fade to dust." She swept her arm around. Every Dalek she swept over scattered like sand swept away by the wind.

"I WILL NOT DIE." Said the emperor, as the Bad Wolf held her arms out. "I CANNOT DIE!"

Though there were few who could watch, the sight of the entire Dalek fleet abruptly dissolving in a sparkling golden light made for a truly majestic sight. By the time the Bad Wolf put her arms down, the emperor, his flagship, and every Dalek in orbit were just dust drifting through space, drifting to Earth or or decorating the surfaces in the Game Station. Only she and the Doctor were left standing in the control room.

"Rose, you've done it. Let it go." Said the Doctor.

"How can I?" She said. "I bring life!"

* * *

In a deserted corridor near the control room, Jack gasped to life. Looking around in a mix of confusion and alarm, he saw that the corridor was centimetre deep in dust and the Daleks were gone.

* * *

"Rose! You can't do that! You can't control life and death!"

"But I can." She gazed down at him. "The sun. The moon. The planets. I see them all. Why do they hurt, Doctor? I see everything. Everything that is. Everything that ever was. Everything that ever could be. And it hurts me."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "That's what I see. All the time. Doesn't it drive you mad."

A dazzling white tear trickled down the Wolf's cheek. "My head, it hurts."

"Come here. I think you need a Doctor." He took her in his hands and connected himself to her, in a way that the untrained eye might mistake for a kiss. He felt all the vortex power drawing out of her and into him, burning him inside as it did so but he held on anyway.

Finally, the energy was gone and Rose collapsed, unconscious. The Doctor set her down gently and turned towards the TARDIS. He blew from his mouth and all the light flooded out of him and into the console. The pain still remained, but he ignored it with a huge effort and bent down to pick Rose up.

* * *

Jack was pacing up and down in confusion. He knew he'd been dead, but now he was somehow he be up and breathing, with no health complications to boot. Looking through the dust he was surrounded by, he saw that most of it was the same copper colour as the Dalek casings. Somehow, he'd come back and the Daleks had all disintegrated.

Just then, he heard a very familiar sound coming from the next room. Hardly daring to believe it, he ran in and confirmed his fears. The TARDIS was dematerialising. Leaving him behind, just when he needed some answers.

* * *

Rose woke up on the TARDIS floor. Her head was much clearer than it had ever been when she'd fallen unconscious before. It was the circumstances that were confusing.

"What happened?" She said.

"All sorted." The Doctor replied, as he casually adjusted the controls.

"I remember... Singing."

"That's right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away." He smiled.

"I was at home... No, wait, I was in the TARDIS... There was this light..."

The Doctor looked down at his hand, where that same light was continuing to run through his veins. "Rose Tyler." He chuckled. "There were so many places I was gonna take ya. Barcelona, for instance. Not the city Barcelona. The planet Barcelona. Such a fun place. They've got dogs there with no noses. Imagine how many times you'd end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."

She smiled "Then... Why can't we go there?"

"We might. Perhaps I will take you there. But not like this. 'cos it'll be different. I might end up with two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head? And don't say that's an improvement."

"You're not making sense."

"I might never make sense again. 'cos it's a bit dodgy this process. You never know what you're gonna end up with." Suddenly, a flash of white engulfed him for a second and he writhed in agony.

"Doctor!" She ran forward to help."

"Stay away!" He shouted.

Rose did as she was told. "Doctor, tell me what's going on."

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying." He groaned, as chirpily as one can groan.

Rose was horrified "Can't you do something?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go..."

"Don't say that!"

"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!"

A golden light flooded from his hands and his head, forcing Rose to cower behind a pillar. Through the glow, she could see the outlines of his face warping as she watched.

Finally, the glow faded and a new man was stood there. A long faced man with spiky gelled hair.

"Hello." He said, and paused, running his tongue over his teeth. "New teeth. That's weird. Now, where were we? Oh yes, Barcelona!"

* * *

**Next time: The Christmas Invasion (including the 2005 Children in Need special.)**


End file.
